Minnesota Historical Building Holds Mummified Monkey

A construction crew working on a century-old downtown Minneapolis building discovered the perfectly-preserved body of a primate in one of the vents. Local historians believe that the mummified monkey might have ended up in the vents after escaping from an exotic pet store in the early ’60.

Project Administrators Unsure How the Mummified Monkey Got Stuck in the Vent

Minneapolis, apart from being a booming city, hold many curious memorabilia. The recent event comes to prove that historic buildings still have many secrets, waiting to be revealed.

The Dayton Project is a city-approved initiative to restore and transform the Dayton building, which, according to Cailin Rogers, the project’s spokesperson, was built 116 years ago.

During their works on the building’s 7th floor, a construction crew found an unusual object lodged inside one of the building’s vents. Upon opening the vent, the crew discovered that the object obstructing it was the perfectly-preserved boy of a primate.

Of course, neither the crew nor the project administrators have any leads on how the animal ended up out there or how it died.

As a result, one of the workers snapped a picture of the mummified monkey and uploaded it on Old Minneapolis, a Facebook page dedicated to the history of this city.

It wasn’t long before people started to comment on the picture with one of them recalling an incident which took place in the early ‘60s. Steven Laboe, one of the history buffs who commented on the photo said that he heard from someone that the Dayton building hosted an exotic pet store on its eight floor.

Sometimes during the ‘60s, the primate escaped from its cage and crawled into the air vents where it perished.

Another man reveals that, from time to time, the Dayton store collaborated with natural museums and this might explain the presence of the mummified body. More than that, it would appear that the primate might have died as a result of an injury it received during its escape.

Upon completion, the fully restored Dayton building will host a restaurant, retail, and an office.